FoggyRock General Forum

I am so excited to have found you all!

I actually discovered foggyrock, mentioned on Celebrtiy Baby Blog, in a thread from their Autism Awareness special posts.

I am a 48 yr old mom of 3 kids.
My daughter is NT and 25 yrs old - living on her own with her fiance.
My oldest son is 16 yrs old - dxed with Aspergers in the 3rd grade and our youngest son is 4 and is currently in the process of being evaluated/dxed by his school district.
My husband is also 48 and with our eldest sons dx - he and I both are totally convinced, that he is also an Aspie.
Our family therapist of the past 6 yrs is also in agreeance.

I couldn't have found this board at a better time.
While I am struggling trying to grasp a ASD dx for my youngest son, due to him being polar opposite of his older brother - I am also desperate to help my older son with his social issues in high school.
He is mainstreamed and went from 4th grade to 8th - with the same one on one aide who was a huge blessing in our lives and is still considered a friend.
Now in high school, he has an aide for only a few classes.
His social circle has finally grown to include a few friends - his homeroom, believe it or not - is a group of ASD young men!

Our 4 yr old is alot like his brother, to a certain degree, at school.
He attends a state funded preschool located at a public school - where children with disbilities are also mainstreamed with those who have not.
He has had speech issues and around 2 yrs - discipline issues.
He has been doing well up to about last fall where he has slowly been regressing back to the types of discipline issues that he had at age 2 - but that are all the more frightening at almost 5.
His teacher has concerns with his compliance and lack of verbal participation/communication at school.
At home I have concerns with his temper tantrums, anger and lack of appropriate response at times.

My husband and I have been married for 17 years.
At least 85% of this time - we have been in one form of counseling or another.
Communication is a HUGE part of my life.
My husband still cannot understand why his first marriage ended and has a hard time trying to discuss his feelings or recall the situation.
When we met he had been working at the same job with no bene's - for 15 years.
Now, for the past 15 years - he has been content to work as a cashier in a club store - a job that my best friend pretty much 'gave him', because he wasn't open to the change and actually fought the opportunity.
He has been offered chances to promote and supervisory positions.
He tried once and didn't like dealing with certain responsibilities and returned to cashiering.
Even though this has meant financial disaster for our family.

When my oldest boy was dxed 7 yrs ago - that same month, I was dxed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), after a year of seeing many specialists.
I often wonder about our two illnesses and would love to know if anyone on here has noticed a correlation to auto immune illness and autism/ASD's.

Where we live in Southern California - the closest Asperger Support Group is almost 2 hours away - and for our lifestyle and schedules - it may as well be a day's drive.
While both my husbands and my parents have long passed, our siblings are either too far across the states or non-supportive.
Our extended family consists of friends that I have made over the years - some that I grew up with.
They all have received much education from us in ASD's and have helped make our boys as successful as they are so far - and will continue to help.

Here, I seek experiences and understanding that is so hard to get when families of NT's say - oh 'that's normal' or that's 'just a phase'.
Their words - though said with the best of intentions, bring forth a sigh of resignation from me, as I think - is it a good thing or a bad thing, that you will never know what an understatement you just made?...

I look forward to learning, sharing and growing with everyone!